A 19-year-old has admitted illegally handling two quad bikes valued at £11,000 which had been stolen by others during the overnight raid of an Eden Valley farm.
Lewis Shields-Cromar, appeared at Carlisle’s magistrates’ court this morning. Shields-Cromar admitted handling quad bikes which had been stolen from the farm at Plumpton, just off the A6 near Penrith, overnight on May 10 last year.
Andy Travis, prosecuting, said the farmer had finished work at 9.30pm. The theft of his property was discovered the following morning.
Police logs had detailed two quad bikes being ridden in the Denton Holme area of Carlisle and officers also received information that two machines were in the possession of Shields-Cromar.
They went to a relative’s address in the Harraby area and both bikes were present. “The defendant was arrested after a short chase in which he made off on one of the quad bikes,” said Mr Travis.
District Judge John Temperley heard Shields-Cromar, of Meadow View, Carlisle, was already awaiting sentence at the city’s crown court for four other offences. These are the careless driving of a quad bike on two roads in the Harraby area on May 11; assaulting a police constable and damaging his glasses on the same date; and also a separate offence of attempted robbery committed in October last year.
District judge Temperley sent the handling stolen goods case to Carlisle Crown Court. Shields-Cromar is due to be sentenced for all five crimes on April 6, and will remain remanded in custody in the meantime.
